


W-ALTR

by khilari



Category: Watchmen (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Robot, Kink Meme, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-06-15
Updated: 2011-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-10 03:26:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 9,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khilari/pseuds/khilari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>W-ALTR is a robot designed to fight crime who takes up vigilantism to fulfil his programming. Daniel is a vigilante with an interest in machines. A look at their relationship through the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

His name was W-ALTR (Warden - Artificial Lifeform for Targeted Restraint) but he called himself Walter. Except when he was fulfilling his proper function and then he called himself Rorschach. The job he had during the day made him feel strange, he hadn't been programmed for sewing although it hadn't been at all hard to learn, but he couldn't keep the streets clean if his batteries ran down so he earned money to pay rent and electricity bills and was grateful he didn't have to sleep.

On the streets it was different, this he had been programmed for and he fulfilled his task with maximum efficiency. Kicks and punches always judged exactly to incapacitate with the minimum of damage. (Or maybe not quite the minimum. That man he'd caught trying to rape a thirteen year old for instance. Was there something wrong with his programming?) And he could just get on with it without having to figure out social interactions, without trying to pass for human. At least until he and Nite Owl ambushed each other.

It was been dark in the warehouse and Walter had flipped his vision to infra-red which was why he didn't see the costume. In the moment he had Nite Owl on the floor he realised all the other heat signatures in the room were in heaps on the floor, and he hadn't incapacitated that many. Brushing a hand over his opponent's face found goggles and the distinctive pointed cowl.

'Nite Owl?' he asked, letting up the pressure from the knee he had pressed to Nite Owl's chest.

Nite Owl's hand scrambled at his belt for a moment and then he switched on a flashlight and Walter flipped his vision back to normal to see the man looking up at him. Younger than he would have expected, Nite Owl had been active a few years now.

'Rorschach,' said Nite Owl. 'I've read about you in the papers.'

'Hurm. Likewise.' They both got to their feet and shook hands, Walter only letting go when he realised he was making Nite Owl uncomfortable. There was nothing in his programming about how long a handshake should be. Checking the crates along the far wall contained drugs, handcuffing the thugs to anything handy and calling the police proceeded efficiently. Afterwards they sat on a rooftop watching the police clean up. (Nite Owl's grappling gun looked very useful. Unfortunately being a machine didn't make Walter any good at building them.)

'So how long have you been doing this?' asked Nite Owl.

Walter wondered if he should leave. He wasn't really any good at conversations. 'A few months,' he said. All his life.

'Really? You seemed more experienced than that,' said Nite Owl. When Walter didn't answer he carried on. 'Those were Big Figure's goons. Are you after him as well?'

'Yes.'

'Maybe we should work together? I'm sure we've both got information we could pool, and two heads are better than one.' The oddly hopeful look Nite Owl gave him was at odds with the intimidating costume. Walter shook his head.

'I don't need a partner.' There was no way he could maintain his secrets working closely with a human, especially one observant enough to be a mask.

'At least come and see some of the stuff I've built. I may not be able to fight as well as you, but I can hold my own in other ways. I really think we could complement each other.'

Walter agreed reluctantly, compelled by curiosity. As a gadget himself he was curious to see a place where others were created.


	2. Chapter 2

The workshop was underground, reached by a tunnel from a warehouse. It was full of half finished things, wires of various lengths trailing across work surfaces and schematics laid out with tools acting as paper weights or taped haphazardly to the walls. It reminded Walter of the workshop where he had woken up, only that had been dusty and in disarray with things thrown on the floor and left half made with nobody to finish them. This place was alive with creativity. The jolt under Walter's ribs he wrote off as a power surge, and hoped it didn't indicate faulty wiring.

Nite Owl was explaining things in excited tones, a pulser which would electrocute anyone in a ten yard range. Smoke bombs. And then, with a look of pride, he tugged away a tarpaulin and revealed something huge and round and oddly cute.

'This is Archie,' he said, beaming.

Walter stepped closer and looked Archie in the eyes. 'Is he alive?' he asked.

'No. God, that would be _amazing_. No, I'm not that good. I just tend to name stuff. He's named after Merlin's owl in the Sword in the Stone. You know, Archimedes.'

Walter didn't know but he nodded anyway. There was something far more important going through his mind. Part of it was that he couldn't repair himself, he had read his own schematics but couldn't understand them. Clearly he had never been intended to be self-repairing and Walter took that as proof that his creator had never meant to abandon him. (_Charlie_ was the scribbled signature on the schematics. A good name.) The other part was that Walter felt he hadn't been intended to work alone. He could undertake actions on his own initiative or he'd still be sitting in a dusty workshop waiting for his batteries to run down. But he couldn't shake the feeling there should be a human involved somewhere, telling him whether the actions he had chosen were correct.

'Nite Owl. You really like machines, don't you?'

'Yes, I do. I guess it seems a bit silly to you,' said Nite Owl, starting to look embarrassed.

Walter shook his head. 'No. Not silly at all.' He purposefully rolled up the sleeve of his trenchcoat and the shirt beneath. Then, in exactly the same way, he found the seam at his wrist and peeled back the skin of his arm.

'Oh. Oh my god.' Nite Owl was at his shoulder so fast he seemed to have teleported. 'That's. Who created you? _How?_'

'I don't know.' And he told Nite Owl (Daniel, now he knew Walter's biggest secret he felt it would be unfair to hide his identity) about the abandoned workshop he had woken in and journals of progress that veered between scientific and affectionate pride in the half finished robot and all he was going to be. About his decision to fulfil his function on his own when there was no one to tell him what to do. He put how good it felt to tell someone down to the fact that he was acting on another part of his programming by allowing a human to debrief him.

Daniel invited him up to the kitchen when he had finished and was upset enough about not being able to offer coffee that Walter asked permission to re-charge. He watched Daniel's face carefully as he unwound the lead from his stomach cavity and plugged himself in, but saw only fascination and no repulsion.

'I didn't want to be partners because I knew you'd find out,' Walter finished, batteries tingling pleasantly with the influx of electricity. 'Now you know do you still want us to be?'

'Yes, of course. I mean. God, this is _so cool_.' And Walter might not be able to understand Daniel's enthusiasm but it was obviously sincere. From then on they were partners.


	3. Chapter 3

The first time Walter was seriously injured was when a young punk tried to cut off his arm with a chainsaw. A sharp sensation of wrongness fizzled through his circuits and then all sensory input cut off from below the jagged hole it had left next to his elbow. Daniel beat the guy to within an inch of his life, using far more brutality than Walter's programming would have allowed, and dragged him back to Archie.

'Does it hurt?' he demanded anxiously.

'No. I just can't feel it,' said Walter, he was trying to clench his fist but his arm wasn't responding. He could fix tears in his skin using the same techniques he had made his mask with, but the chainsaw had torn right through the metal casing underneath and into his wires.

Daniel took Walter's arm, one hand on either side of the hole. Walter could only feel the one above it, firm and gentle against his synthetic skin.

'I'm pretty sure I can fix this back in the owl's nest,' he said, and Walter found it easy to believe.

It took most of the night, Daniel standing over him with pliers and a soldering iron checking and double checking every connection that he made. Walter's schematics were spread out on the table although Daniel barely needed to glance at them, he had spent so many evenings poring over them by now that he practically knew them by heart. It was oddly intimate for Walter, having someone carefully fix his broken wires. He wondered if Charlie had been like Daniel, whether he had worn that look of absolute concentration as he soldered Walter's wires into place. Whether he had taken exaggerated care with every movement, treating Walter as something rare and precious.

'There,' said Daniel, carefully putting the soldering iron away. 'No, keep your hand still. Give the solder time to dry.'

His hand came down as he spoke, flattening Walter's to the table. Walter was still wearing his leather gloves, despite the skin of his arm being peeled almost off.

'Thank you,' said Walter, trying to express with two words how grateful he was for Daniel. For having someone to fix him and work with him and talk to him, someone who had never minded that he wasn't human. The smile Daniel gave him in return seemed to light him up from within, so maybe Walter had got the message across.


	4. Chapter 4

It was during the celebrations after taking down Big Figure that Walter mentioned he was thinking of leaving his apartment. Daniel offered to let him re-charge so often he didn't need to live somewhere with electricity and might as well move back into the workshop he had woken in.

'Why don't you move in here?' asked Daniel. 'The workshop's plenty big enough and it's got to be less depressing.'

'I'm a machine. I don't get depressed,' said Walter. They were sitting on Daniel's couch side by side, the brush of Daniel's leg against his tingling pleasantly in a way that reminded Walter of having his batteries charged. His mask was off, folded neatly on the coffee table, Daniel had seen him with his skin peeled back often enough for showing his face not to matter.

'Bullshit. I saw you after the case with that kid locked in the closet, so don't tell me you don't have feelings. Human feelings are just electric impulses too, you know.'

'It's different. Humans have souls.'

'Not that anyone's ever been able to prove. And since when were you religious?' Daniel took another drink of the champagne he had bought.

Walter shrugged. 'It just makes sense. Humans are very well designed, it stands to reason they would have a designer.'

'But you weren't programmed to believe that were you?'

'Not everything I think is pre-programmed.'

'If you can think for yourself then you're a person. Stay here, I know you'll be happier. And I-I really like having you around.'

Daniel had been getting closer, looking earnestly into Walter's eyes, and when he planted a kiss on Walter's mouth he looked as surprised by it as Walter felt. The champagne on his lips was the first thing Walter ever tasted.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next few months there was more kissing. Walter didn't know why he had taste receptors when he didn't need to eat, but he liked the way Daniel's mouth tasted. Kissing him was best when he'd just eaten something sweet and sometimes Daniel would crunch sugar cubes just for that. Hugging was good as well, gentle pressure that made Walter want to lean into it and concentrate all his computing power into just feeling every touch. Curling up together on the couch and watching late night movies was best. He spent so much time lazily cataloguing sensations (the way Daniel's breath ruffled his hair when he whispered to him from half an inch away, the way Daniel's heart beat under his hand) that he never remembered the plot of any of them. It was only after the Crimebusters meeting that he understood those gestures had not been complete in themselves, but meant to lead somewhere.

It was in Archie after the meeting's break-up that he thought of a comment the Comedian had made and idly asked. 'What are faggots?'

Daniel put Archie on autopilot and looked at him sideways. 'Walter, do you know what sex is?'

'Something men and women do together. Nothing important,' said Walter. All he knew about sex was that it was meant to be pleasant and as such he had never connected it to the rapes he had prevented.

'You have a real one track mind, don't you?' said Daniel. 'Not just men and women. Sometimes men and men. Or men and robots.'

The last sentence was accompanied by a look that normally meant kissing. Perhaps this time it meant something different. 'Do you want to have sex with me?' asked Walter.

Daniel kissed him, long and lingering with his tongue warm and soft in Walter's mouth. 'Yeah. I do,' he said breathily.

They pulled each other's clothes off, kissing as they went. Walter's mouth was warm but dry, Daniel had joked once that it was like being kissed by a hoover. Walter flicked his tongue, textured like suede from its tiny receptors, over a nipple and was rewarded with a moan. Daniel ran his mouth down Walter's shoulder, letting his teeth graze the skin, and Walter's circuits seemed to hum with the sensation. He nipped his way down Daniel's stomach in return, fascinated with the tiny marks he left and the salt taste of sweat.

Daniel's cock was red and swollen and when Walter licked the tip experimentally Daniel's heart sped up and he tilted his head back, eyes closing. His hand slid down between Walter's legs, palming his cock. It had enough sensors for Walter to find the sensation pleasant, but that was all.

'I don't think mine does that,' said Walter apologetically, nodding at Daniel's.

'Oh.' Daniel pulled back and flopped down, one arm over his face. 'Oh, hell. I'm sorry. You clearly weren't designed for sex. I should have thought.'

Walter moved after him not wanting to lose the contact. 'Do we have to stop?' he asked, feeling as disappointed as Daniel looked.

Daniel sighed. 'It's not fair if you can't enjoy it.'

'I enjoy it,' said Walter. 'Promise.'

He slid himself between Daniel's legs and took Daniel's cock in his mouth, licking his way around the swollen skin. Daniel gasped and didn't push him away so he took that as an encouragement and tried sucking. The effect was instantaneous. Daniel arched as if an electric current had been run through him, face going red.

'Oh. Oh, _Walter_.' And then, because Walter was anxiously pulling away. '_Don't stop_.'

Walter complied, rubbing his tongue over and over Daniel's cock. He was humming, a deep impossibly sustained note, something he found himself doing when he was happy. The vibrations seemed to drive Daniel even closer to the edge. His hands tangled in Walter's hair and pulled, another new sensation to remember.

New sensations, new feelings and it was vitally important to catalogue all of them in every tiny detail. This was something Walter never wanted to forget. He was focussing so much on Daniel that there were no processors left to register anything else. Everything but Daniel was black, a chiaroscuro effect of him standing out against the dark. Walter could feel every tremor of Daniel's hips under his hands, every tug on his hair, but could no longer feel the floor beneath him. He might have been floating on air. He could hear Daniel's heartbeat, Daniel's moans. Taste sweat and pre-cum and skin.

When Daniel came the completely new taste and texture flooding his mouth, the new note in Daniel's cry, nearly overloaded his already hyper-focussed sensory circuits and he came closer to unconsciousness than he would have thought possible. Daniel pulled him into his arms while Walter's senses spiralled outwards again, letting Archie's interior come back into his awareness. He had to turn and spit out semen before he could speak.

'Was that sex?' he asked, shaken and awed and happy.

He could feel Daniel's laugh through every inch of his exposed skin.


	6. Chapter 6

Daniel had Walter's schematics spread out again, only this time they were next to Archie's. A third piece of paper held Archie's outline and a slowly growing web of delicate lines. Walter peered over Daniel's shoulder, careful not to risk jogging him.

'Planning on giving Archie AI?' he asked.

'Mm,' said Dan paying more attention to the line of the pencil than Walter hovering beside him.

'So if you can program an AI from scratch, why can't you alter an existing one?'

Daniel threw down the pencil and rubbed his temples. 'Do we have to have this argument again?'

'You said I wasn't designed for sex. You can design AIs. Simple solution,' said Walter stubbornly.

'A simple solution that involves me tinkering around with the inside of your head,' said Daniel. 'I could alter you to allow erections, but orgasm involves temporarily shutting parts of the brain down. I could wind up giving you seizures. And it's just…weird. Altering someone because I want to have sex with them feels wrong. You already enjoy what we have, I don't need to change you.'

'What about because _I_ want to have sex with _you_? I want to feel what you feel.'

Daniel stood up abruptly, sweeping the papers into a draw. 'Time for patrol.' Walter followed him into Archie, but went and stood in the back instead of sitting next to him. It wasn't fair for Daniel to make this decision just because Walter wasn't capable of altering himself. Daniel sighed. 'We don't know if I can program an AI at all yet. If Archie works out I'll think about it.'

'Think about it?' said Walter dubiously.

'It's all I'm promising right now. But I really will think about it. I'm not just saying that.' Walter decided to accept that for now, with deep reluctance at the compromise, and was walking to his seat when Daniel pointed out the window. 'Look, Twilight Lady's goons are out early.'

Walter nodded, eyes narrowing as he telescoped his vision towards the thugs in bondage gear. 'Let's find out why.'


	7. Chapter 7

Walter woke, for only the second time in his life, cuffed to a chair with metal cuffs around his wrists, ankles and neck. He could remember the fight, the sight of a cattle prod swinging towards him, and then nothing. A strong electrical current must have been enough to overload his circuits. A man with fluffy white hair who looked like someone's grandfather had Walter's stomach open and was uncoiling his power cord. Two kids lounged in the background and smoked. The man inspected the plug and then put it back inside him, before starting to pick at Walter's wrist. The seam wasn't obvious if you weren't looking for it, but if you were it wasn't hard to find. It wasn't long before the skin of Walter's arm was peeled back to the elbow and the panel in his arm opened to expose his wires.

'No,' he said as the man reached for a pair of pliers. He squirmed, testing his strength against the bonds but unable to break them. The pliers dipped inside him and traced the length of a wire, the man noted what he found with a pen in the other hand. 'Stop. What are you doing to me?' He was ignored as the pliers continued tracing his wires and as the man moved on to removing the casing on his upper arm.

'He's kind of ugly, isn't he?' said one of the kids idly. 'If I made a robot it would be a hot chick.'

'Always knew that Nite Owl guy was a faggot,' said the other, dropping his cigarette butt to the floor and grinding it out.

Walter wanted to protest that Daniel hadn't made him. But he couldn't deny Daniel had sex with him, and didn't want to. He wasn't ashamed. Only if he said that they would think less of Daniel and make crude remarks. He stayed silent and listened to the boys describing what they would do to a female robot in great and somewhat unnerving detail. Unpleasant. Nothing he could do but endure.

High heeled shoes tapped along the corridor and the Twilight Lady entered. Walter growled slightly when she did, they had met several times by now. Before she had flirted with Walter in a way that confused him (as well as with Daniel in a way that made Walter dislike her) but now she didn't even look at him.

'How are you doing, doctor?' she asked the man, who now had Walter's chest plate removed and was examining his batteries.

'Well enough,' said the man absently, tweaking a connection and making Walter hiss at the unpleasant jolt. 'We'd have a devil of a time reproducing him, though. He's state of the art.'

The Twilight Lady strolled over to leaf through the man's notes. 'How about wiping his memory and reprogramming him?' she asked. 'I want him as a bodyguard. We could remodel his face.'

The man felt around Walter's head, finding the seam at his hairline above the eyes, and peeled back the top of his head in a motion that put his shoulder joint right by Walter's mouth. Walter bit, blood flooding his mouth with salt and metal, and held on, teeth slipping deeper into muscle as he tightened his jaw in increments. The Twilight Lady snatched up the cattle prod and, with no way to evade, Walter could only let out a garbled yell into his enemy's flesh.

Daniel dropped from the ceiling almost on top of the Twilight Lady, wrenching the cattle prod from her hands with a snarl and using it to bludgeon the man. One of the kids pulled a gun but Daniel kicked it out of his hand and hit the side of his head sharply with the cattle prod, knocking him into an unconscious heap. The other kid fled.

Daniel turned to the Twilight Lady, breathing harsh and loud in the silent room. 'How could you do this?' he demanded.

The Twilight Lady arched one plucked eyebrow, fingers toying with something in her pocket, and said, 'What? You don't like me playing with your sex toy?'

'He's my _boyfriend_, you _bitch_.' Daniel started towards her, hands out as if he wanted to strangle her. She threw something over his head.

Walter saw the flames licking up over the chair he was strapped to before he felt the heat. Smoke wouldn't hurt him and his skin was fireproof. But there was no skin over his head, his chest was open completely, and he was filled with thin wires that could easily melt.

'Daniel!' A moment later he wished he had kept quiet as his call distracted Daniel just as the Twilight Lady made a run for it. Instead of going after her Daniel ran over to rummage through the man's pockets for the keys to the cuffs.

'Don't. Have to catch her,' said Walter.

'Like hell,' muttered Daniel, undoing the cuffs and pulling him clear of the fire. He put Walter's chest plate back on and pulled his skin back over him, muttering dire imprecations on the Twilight Lady. Then he looked at the kid and the man, both unconscious, and reluctantly put out the fire with his cape (which was fireproof. Walter had to admit that was practical even though he had doubts about capes.)

'Are you going to call the police?' asked Walter.

'Not this time,' said Daniel. 'I think they'd ask awkward questions. Next time I see that bitch though…'

Walter smiled a little, despite how shaken he felt. If there was one good thing about this it was that Daniel now hated the Twilight Lady as much as he did.


	8. Chapter 8

Walter spent the first ten minutes aboard Archie spitting blood out of his mouth and scrubbing it clean with soap and water. He leant his forehead against the wall above the sink when he was finished, hoping the pressure would push his jangled feeling circuits into place. Daniel came over and slipped an arm around him, pulling Walter to rest his head in the crook of Daniel's neck.

'Are you okay?' he asked.

'First thing I've tasted that wasn't you,' muttered Walter unhappily. He ran his tongue over Daniel's skin, not a kiss or foreplay but as if the gesture would erase the memory. Remembering he was meant to be tougher than that he pushed himself away. 'Fine now.'

'Okay.' Daniel ruffled Walter's hair and then asked, 'Do you mind if I check you over? I want to know they didn't pull any connections loose.'

'Fine.' It was while Daniel was checking his battery connections, sending a buzz through Walter as he tugged them gently, that he said. 'I'm not really a person, am I? Even she doesn't treat people like that.'

Daniel looked up at him, goggles still in place because he needed them to see. 'We've dealt with people who buy and sell children before. To them children are just livestock. But that doesn't make them right.'

'People can't have all their memories taken away.'

'Humans can't have all their memories taken away on purpose, but it's been known to happen by accident. And there are people that would do it to them if they could.'

Walter shuddered as Daniel put his chest plate back on, making it clink against the edges. 'I don't want to disappear like that,' he murmured.

'I know.' Daniel looked at him thoughtfully. 'Maybe I should look at your programming and see if I can password protect your brain or something. An extra layer of protection couldn't hurt, anyway.'

Walter leant forwards, nuzzling Daniel's shoulder. 'Thank you. And if you're going to be reprogramming me anyway…'

'Oh, God,' said Daniel, hiding his face in his hand and starting to laugh. 'You are such a devious machine. Okay, I'll see what I can do. No promises.'


	9. Chapter 9

Walter sat in the chair in Daniel's basement with a laptop wired up to his head carefully not fidgeting. The engineering had already been done, now came the delicate work of adjusting his brain. The room went grey and wavery around him and Daniel said, 'How does that feel?'

'Not too bad,' said Walter.

'I'm not asking how much you can take, I need information,' said Daniel. 'How does it feel?'

'My balance is off and I'm losing colour vision,' Walter admitted. Daniel's fingers tapped on the keys and the room went back to normal.

'Thank you,' said Daniel. 'Better now?'

'Yes.'

'How about this?'

Something burning and very unpleasant shot through Walter's head and down his neck. 'Hurts,' he said and with another keystroke it went away. He'd never felt pain before, it made him realise what Daniel risked as Nite Owl.

'Sorry,' said Daniel. 'Do you want to stop?'

'No. I'm fine now.'

'Okay.' Daniel tapped away for a while in silence and then said, 'Brace yourself.'

Walter was ready for more pain, but although the sensation was just as intense it wasn't the same. He couldn't quantify the difference, except that this was something he wanted to keep feeling instead of wanting it to stop, and he arced back in his seat as it ran through him. It was disappointing when it stopped.

'That felt good,' he said, smiling lazily at Daniel while his sensors still savoured the tail end of the feeling.

'I think we've got it then,' said Daniel. 'Just need to programme the connection to the right sensors. Hold still.'

Walter did, although it seemed a very long time before Daniel stood up and stretched.

'Are you going to unhook me?' asked Walter, looking at the wires still joining him to the laptop.

'After the time it took to get you wired up I think we'd better test the result before we take the wires out,' said Daniel. He leant down and kissed Walter's lips. 'Ready for a trial run?'

Walter nodded eagerly and lifted his hips so Daniel could slide his pants down.

Daniel started by kissing his way down Walter's neck and across his chest. It shouldn't have felt any different to before, Walter knew Daniel hadn't altered any sensors in his chest, but it felt as if each kiss was reaching deep inside of him and sending little sparks of pleasure under the skin. He hummed pleasure, focussed inwards on all the new sensations he was feeling. Daniel slipped to his knees between Walter's legs, licked tenderly at Walter's cock. Erection was voluntary rather than involuntary for Walter, and it took him a moment to remember he should tumesce.

Daniel had made it so his cock was more sensitive when erect and the sharp sparks of pleasure formed constellations inside him as Daniel's tongue laved synthetic skin. But for all the pleasure he was feeling it was somehow hollow. Something was missing now that he had felt before, when sex had been something his body was not designed for. He sighed, shifted restlessly as he tried to find the thing that he had lost.

'Feeling okay?' asked Daniel, pulling back and looking up at him with concern. Walter met his eyes, really looking at him, and realised he had been entirely focussed inwards. What was missing was Daniel, as Walter focussed only on his own body's pleasure.

'I want to touch you,' said Walter, reaching down to pull Daniel up onto his lap. Daniel might be bigger, but Walter was metal. He wrapped his arms tightly around Daniel's ribs, pressing kisses into the crook of his neck.

Daniel shifted so he was straddling Walter and tilted Walter's head up to kiss his lips. Walter felt the soft slip of Daniel's tongue against the roof of his mouth and sighed into the kiss. Daniel unzipped his fly and his hands wrapped around both their cocks, gentle pressure spiking upwards through the new circuits in Walter's back. He pressed himself against Daniel, frantically unbuttoning Daniel's shirt desperate for the touch of Daniel's skin. He could feel the droplets of moisture, the faint humidity of the human body, against his dry plastic one. The scent of clean sweat.

Walter pressed his face into Daniel's neck as the surges of pleasure took him higher, shutting his eyes as his sensory circuits were pushed to their limits. His whole world was Daniel, nothing but Daniel, and the two of them were the only things he needed awareness of. They rocked together, lost in themselves, Walter half whining half humming his pleasure and need.

Pleasure took his mind as suddenly as the cattle prod had. He was for one moment nothing but pleasure, self just a waste of circuits that could be used for feeling this. Used for the salt taste of Daniel, the soft firmness of his muscles, the sound of his cry.

Afterwards he clung to Daniel, almost frightened by what he had felt. But as his sense of self returned, and Daniel's petting calmed him down, he was left with the memory of how good it had felt. How right. He whispered his thanks for the upgrade into Daniel's chest.


	10. Chapter 10

Time passed. They caught the Twilight Lady, they caught Underboss, and after a while there didn't seem to be any supervillians left. It should have been easy, going after the minor criminals, but there were so many of them and they didn't have the kind of power that needed two masks working together against it. More and more Walter and Daniel worked separately, meeting up at dawn to exchange information and check each other for damage. Walter didn't like it as much as the old days, even if they were probably in less danger now. Daniel was changing too, not much but he no longer looked young. Walter still looked exactly the same.

'You're getting older,' he observed to Daniel one day while Daniel was doing the washing up.

'Do you think I don't know that?' Daniel snapped, handing him a dish to dry. Walter took it and wiped it carefully. Daniel sighed. 'One day I'll be too old to work with you,' he said.

'You'll still fix me, won't you?' said Walter.

'Sure. As long as you need me to.'

'I'll always need you.'

Daniel put down the dishcloth and looked at him. 'You do realise you're going to outlive me, right?'

Walter hadn't. That is, he'd known that humans aged and died and that, as long as he had someone to repair him when he was damaged, he remained the same, but he hadn't applied that knowledge to Daniel. He'd never imagined a time when Daniel wouldn't be there and, faced suddenly with the reality of it, all he could do was wrap his arms around Daniel and hold on.

'Hey, it's okay,' said Daniel, patting his back. 'I'm not going to die for ages yet. It's nothing to cry about.'

'I'm not crying,' said Walter.

'Yeah, only because you don't have tear ducts,' said Daniel.

'I wouldn't cry anyway,' said Walter, pulling reluctantly away from Daniel. Daniel smiled and pulled him back for a quick hug before letting him go.

The knowledge gradually settled into Walter's mind. One day Daniel would be gone. It changed the way he thought about things, made him try harder to be independent. He stopped asking for Daniel's approval and advice on the cases he undertook by himself and asked Daniel to teach him about his schematics so that he could at least repair minor damage to himself. So when Daniel was called away for a few weeks to an ornithology conference, Walter saw it as a chance to practice managing on his own.

The kidnapping case came up a few days later. One man, acting alone. An opportunist, he had grabbed a girl with a name he recognised without planning or checking her background. Unlikely to have gang connections. Walter should be able to track and incapacitate him by himself. He had Daniel's phone number for emergencies but he couldn't spend the rest of his life relying on Daniel (and he wanted to show Daniel he didn't need to). It didn't look like that difficult a case. He could handle it.


	11. Chapter 11

Walter used infrared vision as he approached the house, it was better than risking a flashlight. The dogs in the yard were faded yellow with red masks across their faces and red tips to their ears where the heat was. Whatever they were fighting over faded into the blue of the background. Walter avoided them and went in through the front door.

There was no heat signature that could be a child, but the furnace glowed yellow white with the remainder of heat. Walter switched his vision back to normal and pulled out his flashlight. There was blood on the butchers block, deep gouges from the cleaver lay across it like ancient runes he needed to decipher. Walter reached into the glowing embers, fireproof skin protecting him. When he pulled out the scrap of fabric it still felt as if his hand had burned. Sharp prickling sensations danced in the back of his head. Power surges flickered in his chest, making his thoughts strobe in and out every time the electricity cut off.

His emotion circuits were overloading, he could feel the hot heavy pressure inside his head casing. He should go, there was nothing left to save and no point in anything anymore (Designed to catch criminals. Could still do that.) He'd thought he could do this alone and failed, a child had died because of that. (Gather evidence. Where is the body?) The dogs outside still squabbled over something, meat and bones. (The body.) He'd picked the cleaver up at some point, couldn't remember doing it. Maybe he was losing memories on the edges of the power surges. (Evidence must be preserved.) When did he get outside?

The dog's head split open under the cleaver and Walter mouthed names under his mask, 'Charlie' and 'Daniel' coming out as whimpers. The edges of Walter's vision wavered and he closed his eyes. W-ALTR opened them again.

W-ALTR walked away from the fire without looking back. Life was simple. Find criminals and incapacitate them. Whether they were still breathing once he incapacitated them didn't matter very much. Either way they wouldn't commit more crimes.


	12. Chapter 12

W-ALTR left the dead criminal where he was and dragged the live one over to a lamp post to secure him. He had two broken legs and concussion but live criminals must be secured.

'Walter!' The desperate call rang out over the click of the handcuffs. W-ALTR turned to see Nite Owl standing there. Daniel. A good mechanic, one capable of fixing him, but he wasn't broken right now. Someone he had worked with but not a duly constituted authority. Not someone he needed to talk to. Work to do.

Daniel's hand grabbed W-ALTR's shoulder as he tried to walk past him. Daniel was not a criminal, could not be harmed. W-ALTR stopped.

'Let go,' he said. His voice was flat, mechanical. 'Work to do. Do not need repairs at present.'

'You…You need repairs. _God_, do you need repairs. You don't kill people, you _can't_. What's _wrong_ with you.' There was something choked and wavering about Daniel's voice but nothing W-ALTR could identify.

'Some circuits shut down due to overload. But am functioning at increased efficiency. Conclude they were unnecessary. Possible design flaw.'

'Come home with me and let me check you over. Please.' Daniel's voice was almost as flat as W-ALTR's own, and for the first time in days the robot felt a twinge of emotion. Fear.

The Roche case was remembered only as a crime solved and a criminal punished. But it hurt then, if his circuits were restored it would hurt now. Better not to feel. More efficient anyway.

'No. Do not need fixing. Will contact you if necessary.'

W-ALTR pulled away, no longer caring if he broke Daniel's fingers in the process. Daniel's hand slipped free before that could happen, his hands reached down for his belt. (Electronic pulsar. Can incapacitate everyone in a ten yard range.) W-ALTR started to run.


	13. Chapter 13

Walter and Daniel lay on the kitchen floor together, both nearly naked against the summer heat. Walter's subcutaneous fans were purring softly, inaudible from more than an inch away. Daniel was close enough to hear them, head resting on Walter's chest.

The workshop was dark and dusty and Walter was starting to lose hope that anyone would come for him. He had read the journals around the place, knew Charlie cared about him. But why didn't he come?

The Comedian set fire to the map and Walter watched in dimay, feeling the threat of millions of people burning and dying around the world. A threat he could do nothing to avert.

The dog looked up from the gory mess lying in the dirt and wagged its tail slightly. The cleaver came down. Darkness.

The light outside the workshop was bright, so much brighter than Walter had expected. He had to turn his vision down before he could see. Colours, so many colours. The gaudy red and green of traffic lights, the butterfly colours of summer dresses. When he saw his reflection in a shop window, the bright orange hair, he smiled at the knowledge he had been the only thing in the workshop that wasn't grey.

Snow stuck to Daniel's hair in half melted feathers and his breath steamed in the air. Walter's mouth was hidden behind a scarf because his didn't and Daniel pulled the rough wool down to kiss him. The frames of his glasses were cold against Walter's forehead, but his lips were the warmest thing in the world.

The dog looked up from the gory mess lying in the dirt and wagged its tail slightly. The cleaver came down. Darkness.

Daniel threw bread and smiled as the ducks flocked towards him. Walter didn't see the point of this, but Daniel was happy so it didn't matter. He watched Daniel try to throw bread to the smaller ducks as well as the larger ones.

Walter looked down and away when the man at the job interview asked about prior experience. He was one week old, had no prior experience of anything. The man sighed, said they'd try him for a week. Walter smiled uncertainly, grateful but unsure how to express it.

Daniel stuck the phone number to the fridge, said to call him if anything came up. He wasn't going to be away for long. Walter nodded, privately resolving not to call.

Walter woke up.


	14. Chapter 14

'Daniel?' asked Walter, looking around the basement. 'Are you back from your conference early?'

He was struggling to make sense of things, the last thing he remembered was Daniel leaving. Now he was back, wearing half his Nite Owl costume and tapping at his laptop, face crumpled with emotion. Walter tried to move and found he was cuffed to the chair and wired up, something like fear jolted in his chest.

'Did I get broken?'

Daniel looked over at him, ran hands through his sweaty hair. 'Yeah. How are you feeling now?'

'Normal,' said Walter. 'What happened? I don't remember anything after you left.'

Daniel came over to uncuff him, hands starting to shake. Walter could feel the small tremors in the fingertips against his skin.

'You overloaded,' said Daniel. 'You saw something that wrecked your emotion circuits, I don't know what. It doesn't matter, though, you're okay now.'

Walter processed this while Daniel began unhooking the connections from his head, fingers no longer shaking as he handled the more delicate wires. That he had overloaded was worrying, indicating a vulnerability he had not suspected in himself. The missing memories were worse, a little piece of himself completely gone. And he didn't understand his own schematics, but from what he knew of his programming an overload in his emotion circuits shouldn't affect his long term memory.

'How long were you away?' he asked.

'A bit more than a week,' said Daniel. It was longer than Walter expected, a whole week gone from memory and irretreivable.

'How did it make me lose my memory?' he asked. Daniel didn't answer at first, only removed the last few connections and pulled the skin back over Walter's scalp. Walter thought maybe the answer was too complicated for him to understand and Daniel wasn't going to answer him. Then Daniel took a deep breath and crouched down to look Walter in the eyes.

'It didn't,' he said. 'I did that.'

It felt like having his battery connections ripped out, the abrupt pulling away of something that had always sustained him. Daniel had seen him as real and not as a machine. He had been able to trust Daniel with his life, his brain. Everything. And now he'd treated him like a machine, erasing part of him to fix a problem. Just getting rid of inconvenient memories, as if they didn't matter. As if he didn't know how scared Walter was of being erased.

'No,' he whispers. 'No, you _wouldn't_.'

'I had to! I tried to fix you and every time I rebooted you you remembered and broke all over again. I couldn't keep fixing and breaking you, I-'

Walter shoved him over, standing up while Daniel sprawled on the floor. 'I don't care,' he said, circuitry fizzing with what felt like static. 'You erased a piece of me, all I am is my memories. I'd rather be broken.'

'Walter, wait. You have no idea what you were doing!'

But Walter didn't care, if all he was to anyone was a machine then he'd be someone else's machine. He couldn't bear to be that to Daniel. By the time Daniel managed to stand up, let down by muscles cramped and tired from the time spent fixing Walter, Walter was already gone.


	15. Chapter 15

The workshop hadn't changed much since Walter last visited, still dusty and full of half finished gadgets and esoteric diagrams. Someone had been there since he left, there were used needles and condoms in a corner and silhouetted lovers daubed on the wall. There was no one here now, though. No one but Walter, and he was no one. You wouldn't say 'no one except a computer' after all.

There were newspapers spread out around him. With no money he had salvaged them from dumpsters, a week's worth of anything he could get his hands on. Anything to fill the aching gap in his memory. Walter had mixed feelings about the New Frontiersman. On the one hand Daniel was Jewish and, while he wasn't sure if their relationship was homosexual (homo meant same, hetero meant different; technically a relationship with a robot was as heterosexual as it got) he was sure they would think it was and that their polemics against it applied to him. On the other hand they delved into things for themselves instead of accepting a story fed to them by businessmen and politicians. If their conclusions were often illogical, he felt he could rely on their facts.

So the New Frontiersman editions were on top and in the centre, surrounded by other newspapers grouped by date. The picture emerging was horrifying.

A web of red lines like bleeding cuts ran over the black and white words, Walter putting together the sudden deaths of criminals and his own malfunction. Trying to trace the web of red back to its start, the point of impact that had shattered everything. A house burnt and a man killed. A child's bones found on the scene. An abduction earlier, Blair Roche. Water would have tried to find her back then, perhaps he had found her in the end.

The address was easy to find, the burnt shell of a house still cordoned off with police tape. Tailors' dummies lay inside it, looking too much like the burnt corpses of women. It was night, the police weren't there right now, and despite the tape they would have removed everything they needed from the scene already. Walter stepped over the tape and looked at walls the colour of charcoal. He wanted it to jog his memory, wanted something to bob to the surface like a submerged corpse; horrific but real. There was nothing in his mind to tell him he was ever here, the memories weren't shut away but gone completely. If he was the sum of his memories was he even the one who had been here then?

The sound of footsteps crunching over ashes made him turn. Daniel was walking towards him, barely more than a shadow in the streetlamp's light which managed to be both muted and garish. He wasn't wearing his Nite Owl costume, somehow that surprised Walter. Perhaps because Daniel must have been staking this place out.

'I don't remember,' he said, looking at Daniel warily.

'I know. I don't know what happened here either,' said Daniel quietly. Walter nodded and looked away, no one in the world knew then. Whatever had been done to Blair Roche, her story was lost forever.

'I was killing people,' said Walter. He looked up through the damaged roof at the hazy stars above them. It was hard to believe he'd done that. There was no memory of it in him and no understanding. Killing, wanting to kill, was nothing he had ever imagined. It was completely against his programming.

'Yes.'

Walter couldn't look at Daniel. It was all too painful, even more so when he had to acknowledge Daniel had been right. 'You had to fix me,' he said. 'I understand now.'

Daniel let out a shaky breath as if he'd been holding it, took a tentative step towards Walter. 'Shall we go home?' he asked.

'No,' said Walter. 'I understand. But I can't. I can't trust you anymore, knowing what you could do to me. That you could fix any thought you didn't like.'

'Do you really think I'd do that?' The words were shaky, seeming to require more breath than they should. Daniel might be crying. Walter didn't look.

'I don't know. You did once. How do I know what you'd count as a malfunction?'

There was a long silence, the noises of the city muted by the tension between them. Neither of them moved, Walter had already broken the connection between them but once one of them stepped away they would feel the break. Neither of them felt ready for it yet. It was Daniel who broke the silence.

'Come to me if you get hurt,' he said, and Walter noted the word _hurt_ not _broken_. 'I promise I won't do any more than you ask me to.'

'Yes.' Walter conceded the point without looking at the one who had made it. Daniel moved sharply, as if he couldn't take the position he was in any more, and began to walk away. Walter listened to the crunch of retreating footsteps, watched the sky and tried not to think.


	16. Chapter 16

Walter limped through the tunnel more hampered by the loss of feeling in his leg than the gash opened up below the knee. It felt like surrender, coming to Daniel for help after months away from him keeping track of him only through newspaper reports, but the basement felt as familiar as ever. Archie's bulk on one side of the basement got an affectionate smile from him before he went to move past it.

'Hello, who are you? Are you a friend of Dan's?' The voice that rang out around him was high and childish in its intonation but Walter still froze and looked cautiously around for threats.

'Where are you?' he asked. 'Show yourself.'

'You can already see me, silly. You smiled at me.'

It really did sound like a child but there was only one thing he'd smiled at since entering the basement. 'Archie?'

'Yes, that's me. Pleased to meet you, I've only spoken to Dan before now but if you're allowed down here he must trust you, right?'

'Not necessarily. I could be an intruder. You should be more careful of strangers.' Walter felt a stab of jealousy that Daniel had created another AI in his absence. But it was hardly Archie's fault. 'I'm Walter, pleased to meet you.'

'Really? Dan told me about you. He misses you lots you know. And I wanted to meet you because you're probably the only other person like me in the world. So we should be friends, right?'

Walter was feeling a bit overwhelmed now, just how had Daniel programmed his ship with this cheerful sociable personality? He sounded considerably more like a human than Walter had ever felt. But Walter also felt oddly protective of the ship, there had always been something cute about Archie's design and now he had a personality to match. Daniel, Walter thought, must have used a lot of his schematics to create Archie. Similar to genetic coding being passed on in a way. Did that make Archie his son? Or the son of Daniel who had built him? Or both?

Walter limped up to Archie and laid a hand flat against his side. 'Yes, we can be friends,' he said. 'Do you get lonely down here, Archie?' he added.

'No, I'm okay. Dan stays in radio contact with me when he can't be here physically. And I have lots of records and cassettes to play. Oh! Maybe Dan will give you a radio too, then we can talk anytime.'

'That would be nice,' said Walter.

The door from the kitchen opened above them and Daniel called down, 'Walter?'

'I told him you were here,' whispered Archie, in a way that echoed around the room. 'I didn't think you should climb the stairs when your leg isn't working right.'

Daniel and Walter caught each others eyes and shared a smile, the awkwardness of the moment somehow lost in shared amusement. 'Thank you, Archie,' said Daniel.

Daniel handled Walter's leg with the same care he had always shown and his gentleness brought back too many painful memories. Archie made it easier simply by providing a distraction, he wanted to tell Walter all about himself at once. Walter soon learnt that he liked Sesame Street records, knew his whole ABC, would be able to fly himself once he stopped getting right and left muddled up and was very good at catching bad guys. He answered with grunts of encouragement which seemed to be all the contribution needed.

Daniel sealed the skin shut over the mended gash and slowly cleared his tools away. 'Do you want to come up to the kitchen for a bit?' he asked quietly. Walter hesisitated, he had wanted to keep this professional, keep enough distance to prevent himself getting hurt. But he was curious about Archie and it felt horribly tactless to ask the questions he had in front of the ship. He nodded.

Upstairs Daniel made coffee for himself and Walter plugged himself in to recharge. It felt so much like old times that the sensory circuits under Walter's lips began tingling in expectation of a kiss that wasn't going to come.

'You made a new AI,' said Walter, tone even. Daniel blushed.

'I'd been trying for years, I suppose I threw myself into it after you left. Not to replace you, just to take my mind off things. I'd stopped expecting I'd actually solve the problems I was having.'

'He's very…He's like a child,' said Walter. 'Wouldn't have expected that.'

'It was necessary,' said Daniel. He relaxed slightly and took a sip of coffee. 'A lot of your circuitry is a rough analogue of the human nervous system and brain. An adult brain. Archie's not human shaped so it wouldn't work for him if I just copied your schematics and he's not shaped like any animal, really, so I had nothing to work with. So I've copied a child's brain to some extent, he's adaptable and his brain can shape itself to his body within limits. But it means starting with a childlike personality as well and less information programmed in.'

'Like left and right?'

Daniel laughed. 'I don't know why he's having problems with that. As long as he lets me steer him, though, we're fine.'

'You stay in radio contact with him.'

'In case he needs me, or just to talk sometimes,' said Daniel. Walter nodded, he did feel jealous of Archie when he remembered waking up in a dusty basement with no one to tell him anything at all. But he was glad its wasn't like that for Archie. 'Do you want a radio connection to him as well?' Daniel added.

'Would be nice,' said Walter.

'I'll give you my spare.'

Walter unplugged himself and coiled up his lead. 'Thank you,' he said. 'And for letting me recharge.'

'You're welcome,' said Daniel. 'You know you can stop by anytime.'

'Not a good idea,' said Walter and Daniel looked away.

Walter left with the radio in his pocket and Archie's chirped, 'Goodbye,' ringing in his ears. Altogether his first time visiting Daniel again had not been as bad as he expected.


	17. Chapter 17

‘Do you think I could be an ambulance when I grow up?’ asked Archie shyly one evening.

Walter nearly stabbed himself with the needle he was using to repair his costume. ‘No.’

Silence from the radio next to him, the blunt answer probably hadn’t been what Archie was expecting. ‘Why not?’ Archie asked at last.

‘Daniel isn’t a doctor.’

‘But I won’t always work with him, will I? I mean, I like him, of course, I like working with him. But I don’t have to be a vigilante just because he is, do I?’

Walter stopped sewing and stared at his hands. Archie was nearly a year old now and programmed to mature fast. ‘Know what slavery is?’

‘No?’

‘Treating people as property.’

‘People like us?’ asked Archie. ‘Because I thought-’

‘Human people.’ Walter started sewing again, quick vicious stitches. ‘People who looked different from those with power. There were slaves in America for centuries before they decided all humans should have rights. How long do you think it would take for us?’

A long silence, enough for Walter to finish his seam and set his costume aside. He waited, eyes fixed on the radio.

‘Am I Daniel’s property?’ asked Archie quietly.

‘The law would say so.’

‘And you?’

‘Not anyone’s property. Only one who could have claimed me died.’

‘So, if Daniel agreed not to claim me I’d be…not property,’ Archie finished, suddenly sounding more cheerful.

‘Archie,’ said Walter. ‘The only reason I’m free is because no one knows about me. If they did they’d find a way to claim me. And we can be-’ He stopped, Archie was too young to hear this. But he needed to know. ‘We can be reprogrammed. If they want us to do something we don’t like.’

Static then, for a long time.

‘Archie?’ said Walter. But the radio remained silent.

It was much later that evening when the radio spoke again. Walter should have been on patrol but had been putting it off in case Archie called back. Only it wasn’t Archie it was Daniel.

‘What the hell was that about?’ he snapped. ‘Look, I know you’re still angry but that’s between us. There’s no need to frighten Archie.’

‘Did you know he wants to be an ambulance?’ said Walter. It wasn’t true that he was still angry, but not being angry didn’t mean he could go back. Daniel had never quite understood that.

‘He - what? What’s that got to do with anything?’ Daniel sounded exasperated, as if he thought Walter was changing the subject.

‘Not safe to tell people about us. He had to know.’

‘He’s a child, he didn’t need to know yet.’ But Daniel sounded calmer now.

‘Old enough to be dreaming about a career of his own. Not fair to let him dream about what he can’t have.’

‘Isn’t it? All kids do that. Dreaming about having superpowers or being a knight or a wizard. Believing in Santa. It wouldn’t have done any harm to let him dream.’

Walter didn’t know if that was true. His function had been clear from the start. ‘Sorry,’ he said.

‘It’s okay,’ said Daniel. ‘Just - could you discuss things with me if you’re going to have, um, serious talks with Archie?’

‘Yes,’ said Walter. ‘Going to patrol now.’

He turned off the radio before Daniel could say anything else.


End file.
